Fall of A Thousand Suns
by LisaDouglas
Summary: AU/Experimental. Set in 1987 Houston, Tony, learns of a plot to infiltrate NASA after his life is mysteriously spared during a botched mission.


Ch 1 - Houston We Have A Problem

Houston, August 1987

"This is a really bad idea!" Abby grumbled, hugging her big sister from behind as she pedaled furiously.

The redhead was unnerved, and eyed the flaming shuttle, turned missile as it plummeted fast toward the earth, turning the dark black sky light as day.

It wasn't often that the Bellows girls rode a single bicycle throughout the streets of Houston at night, but they'd never had a night quite like this.

"We don't disagree on that." Alyssa agreed as she sped, making a hard turn toward the Nelson house.

…..

Hours Later

"I asked you to let me go." Tony ruminated, his seriousness growing as he stared into the roaring fire.

The badly bruised astronaut braced himself against the hearth, tossing back a shot of whiskey. Jeannie watched her husband with careful, but unapologetic eyes. She hadn't done it, but was filled with gratitude for whoever had.

"Master, I really did nothing of the kind." She shook her head.

He laughed, unnerved. "H-how am I supposed to explain this!"

"That you and Major Healy are alive?! I'm not worried about the explanation."

"Ah-ha!" He pointed at her, as if catching her red-handed.

Jeannie stood, approaching him boldly. After twenty-two years with him, and a solid seventeen years of living as a modern American woman, Jeannie was on more equal ground with her husband, and was no longer afraid to stand up to him as she might have once been. He liked it this way… most of the time.

"I didn't save your life. I did as you asked and it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do!" She looked into his eyes, sincerity in her gaze.

Jeannie had had a premonition about this flight, one Tony had disregarded as angst. Nonetheless, he'd asked her not to play God should something go wrong. And it had. Just three days earlier, he and Roger had gone into orbit with two other men. Not long after blast off, something had gone terribly wrong and right at the moment of no return. BANG… The rocket hurled back into the earth from which it'd come. Two of their colleagues were lost, but Tony and Roger found themselves at NASA in one piece, unable to explain how they'd gotten there.

"Who else could've done this?!" Tony considered. "Your sister would never…"

"Ummm I don't know about that… There is her relationship with Major Healy to consider…."

No one talked about Jeannie II, who'd married Roger, stuck around for a painful two years and then left, abandoning her child in the process.

"She walked out twelve years ago. What've we seen her like three times since then?Neither of the girls is strong enough to -" He spoke of their daughter, and niece, both fourteen.

"I do not know. I do not even think Isobel is a genie…" She sighed. "But its always possible, I suppose… Oh Anthony, do not feel bad you're alive!"

"For now." He laughed nervously. "What are they going to do when they figure out-"

He plopped down in his favorite leather chair and gave out a frustrated sigh as she started to rub his shoulders. Jeannie laughed, rolling her blue eyes. Over time, the two-thousand year old woman had become less naive. How many snafus had her magic gotten them into over the years? And when had anyone ever figured it out? When had anyone kicked him out of the space program? When had he been court-marshalled? None of his worries had ever come to pass and she knew they would not.

She hugged him from behind. "Aren't you glad to be here with me, husband?"

He sighed, shaking his head. "It doesn't change the fact that someone under this roof, changed the course of history. And I can't let them do it again."

Neither Tony or Jeannie noted their sixteen year old son hiding around the corner outside the library door, listening intently.

…

Tony watched his family intently, his eyes shifting as three teens, his bubbly wife, and bumbling best friend went about their mornings as if it were any other day, when it was anything but. There'd be an inquisition that morning, about him and Roger and how they were alive. And for the first time in years, Tony had no idea how to explain all this away.

It'd be one thing if Dr. Bellows were around. Tony knew how to work him, and overtime, the natural suspicion Bellows had had, had given away to a deep familiarity, and a trust that transcended the psychiatrists' gut instinct that something wasn't quite right with Anthony Nelson…

But, as luck would have it, Alfred Bellows had died just a couple of months before, and Tony never would've guessed how the unexpected death would reek havoc on his already unstable existence. First of all, they missed him. There was no getting around that. Second, the man's widow and her kids never seemed to leave his house. Tony was a private man who'd grown to be a very guarded one.

As such, the Bellows' constant presence was unnerving to him even though the Colonel's family knew the secret he had not.

Worst of all though, Dr. Smith, NASA's junior psychiatrist, was now in charge.

Smith thought Bellows had been easy on Tony and Roger. And so far, working under his command had been like going back to the drawing board with Dr. Bellows… If he had half the heart, and no Amanda to mellow him out.

'Which one of you is it?' Tony asked himself.

It wasn't as if he wasn't happy to be alive… But since he couldn't answer the questions NASA would have that morning, he knew he might be left with a life not worth living. Tony watched carefully as Roger joked with his own daughter.

'Maybe Roger asked Izzy to do it?' He thought.

Isobel Healy, daughter of Roger and Jeannie II, had yet to manifest any genie abilities… But that met nothing to Tony. Who was to say she didn't have them? Or wouldn't develop them?

Tony's gaze fell upon his own daughter. Jacklyn, who at fourteen, was coming into her own magically. She'd shown great ability from the time she was a toddler, but now that she was becoming a teen, her talents had just exploded. Recently, Jeannie had given her a special, and unfortunately, very interactive book that was supposed to help her fine tune her new abilities: The Care and Keeping of Grown Up Genies….

So far though, the book had gotten both the magical cousins and some of their friends into more messes than Tony could grapple with. He wondered if it could be blamed for helping to save his life. He doubted it. This was Jacklyn… Haphazard or not, the young genie was always eager to brag about her magical accomplishments, whether her father approved of them or not. Kind of a pre-madonna, she would no doubt brag about saving his life.

Then there was Josh. The sixteen year old was the image of his father and an All-American kid: bright, popular, kind, a football star. Somehow, it'd been years since it'd crossed his mind that his son might have inherited his mother's abilities. Tony disregarded the idea completely. There was no way it could be him…. But he supposed he couldn't rule anything out. Could he?

Frustrated, Tony tossed his napkin onto his plate.

"Master?" Jeannie questioned, causing the rest of the table to look up.

"Really? None of you? Not one of you can explain how this happened?"

The rest of the family stopped their chatter in an instant, filling the room with a cold, awkward silence, save the coffeemaker dripping in the background.

"Master I told you that we didn't —"

"Dad. I didn't want anything to happen to you! But I promise I didn't do it!" Jackie interjected quickly.

"Tone it'll be okay." Roger said, his mouth full. Isobel nodded in agreement.

"He's right!" Josh interjected. "Who's to say you have to know anything about what happened?"

Tony laughed hysterically, like Clark Griswold at the end of his rope. "Whose-whose to say I have to know anything?! I've always had to know everything! In this entire, stupid debacle!" He nearly tantrumed. "Don't you know what's going to happen?! They're going to throw the book at us that's what!"

"You know we could uh just disappear." Roger shrugged.

"Diss-disappear! Very good Roger that's exactly what's going to make us happen, they're going to send us to Siberia!"

Tony screamed in frustration, his family staring as he left the kitchen and headed out the back door, slamming it.

He headed down the back steps, so frustrated he wished he had a cigarette… he'd never smoked a day in his life.

"Colonel Nelson?"

Tony jumped when he heard a voice, and looked down in surprise finding the middle Bellows girl sitting on the very bottom step.

"Abby?" He questioned.

Tony had never gotten used to the Bellows' presence in his house, even after Amanda had made it abundantly clear that their secret was more than safe with her.

The redhead stood, biting her lip. She didn't know what to say at first, but wanted to tell him she was glad he was alive. She'd had a challenging relationship with her father, and his unexpected passing had been very difficult for her. But losing her best friend's fathers along with him would've been too much for everyone … especially her mother.

"Jacklyn didn't do anything." She paused, coming to her life-long best friend's defense. "I did."

"W-wait, what? You! How?!" Tony freaked.

"There's something you should know before the hearing today." Abby pulled a file out of her backpack, handing it to him. "I found this in my dad's desk… I think it's what killed him. And what was supposed to kill you."


End file.
